All good things must come to an end. And on Tuesday night, the end came for IMPACT Wrestling faction oVe (Ohio Versus Everything), when their leader, Sami Callihan, turned on the stable following their loss to the trio of Rhino, Tommy Dreamer, and a returning Crazzy Steve.
.@TheSamiCallihan JUST ATTACKED HIS oVe PARTNERS! #Rebellion @FultonWorld @TheDaveCrist @TheJakeCrist pic.twitter.com/6mn49rIyrW
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 22, 2020
It marked the end of the line for oVe with Sami Callihan, a stable that made its debut with IMPACT Wrestling in the form of the Crist Brothers, Dave & Jake, in TNA in the summer of 2017. The debuted as part of the new ownership in Anthem Entertainment took over and looked to add new blood into the roster, debuting on August 24, 2017’s episode of Impact Wrestling, where they defeated The Heatseekers (Elliott Russell & Sigmon). At Victory Road on September 28, they defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz) to become World Tag Team Champions. The tag team became a stable when their leader, Sami Callihan, emerged from the shadows at Bound for Glory that fall. But it wasn’t the first time Callihan had worked with the Crists – not by a long shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlUejzdGI3w
The Crist Brothers had been tagging together since 2003, first as Crazy J (Jake Crist) & Lotus (Dave Crist) and then the Irish Airborne starting in 2005 under their Crist monikers, and in 2011 they joined Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). It was there they was reunited with fellow Ohio Sami Callihan, whom the Crists knew from Ohio promotions like Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA). While Jake initially feuded with Sami in CZW, by 2012 Callihan had adopted the brothers into his new unit, Ohio Is For Killers (OI4K).
Over the years, OI4K would see many members come and go – such as Zachary Wentz, Dezmond Xavier, Trey Miguel, Aaron Williams, Kyle Maverick, and others – as well bringing on a manager in Neveah. From 2012 to 2018, OI4K terrorized the Midwest such as Ohio’s Rockstar Pro, Detroit’s Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling (XICW), Chicago’s AAW Pro, and Indiana’s IWA Mid South. The brother combo of Dave & Jake Crist became 2x Rockstar Pro Tag Team Champions and 2x AAW Tag Team Champions, as well as winning tag team gold in CZW, IWA Mid South, Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW), and Canada’s Alpha-1, while Dave Crist & Zachary Wentz won the tag team titles in XICW (where they defended them in Freebirds rule, sending multiple combinations to defend). The Crists left OI4K when they joined TNA in 2017 (then rebranding briefly as Global Force Wrestling).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP23XzlDFgo
While the Crists were holding up their end in the tag team division for OI4K, Sami Callihan was building his own trophy case with the unit, becoming a 2x AAW Heavyweight Champion, 2x CZW Junior Heavyweight Champion, 2x Rockstar Pro Champion, as well as Fight Club: PRO Champion in England. All of that with a nearly two and a half hiatus where he was in NXT. Callihan returned from his failed run in NXT with a stronger fire in his belly than ever before, and his stock rose exponentially on the independents – and he was determined to bring his brothers in OI4K with him.
After seeing the success of the Crists in the new regime of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, Callihan joined the company in the fall of 2017 and almost instantaneously became the companies top villain. His bloody feud with Eddie Edwards, to feuds with Pentagon Jr., Rich Swann, Brian Cage, and ultimately Tessa Blanchard, as well as capturing the IMPACT World Heavyweight Championship, has cemented Callihan as one of the main event players in IMPACT. For nearly three years now, Callihan and oVe have run riot throughout IMPACT, adding a fourth member in Madman Fulton, a fellow Ohio wrestler that Callihan worked with during their time together in NXT (where Madman was simply Sawyer Fulton). Callihan first reunited with Fulton post-WWE in Major League Wrestling (MLW), when Fulton was recruited for Callihan’s Death Machines crew for MLW’s War Games in September of 2018. By the end of the year, he followed Callihan to IMPACT and oVe.
I don’t want your help.
It’s oVer.
RIP #oVe https://t.co/sm6dcvQePJ
— Death Machine (@TheSamiCallihan) April 22, 2020
And now for the first time in a long time, Sami Callihan is truly alone. No longer will his words be protected by three Ohio brothers behind him who would do EV. RY. THING to protect him. And for the first time in a long time, the Crist Brothers are without a leader. It will be interesting to see these long-conjoined three wrestlers part ways and find new paths in IMPACT Wrestling.
https://twitter.com/FultonWorld/status/1252780068742533120
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. We provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch IMPACT every Tuesday on AXS-TV and see past episodes of IMPACT Wrestling on IMPACT+.
